Okay, the usual Shaq!:laugh: I put a sort of arrow at his (small) comment on JO and the Pacers as well as K-Mart beying the best PF last year.

"www.sun-sentinel.com/spor...orts-front

"When I was in the Staples Center, I got three titles. That's good for a 12-year career, but I'm selfish when it comes to what I do.

"So you go there and say, `Oh, that's Jerry West. He was the best shooting guard the Lakers ever had. He had one.' `That's Gail Goodrich, he had one.' `Magic had five and Kareem had six.'

"I've got three, but I'm coming down here with a new start, new guys, new energy. I know what it takes to get there. I'm going to help these guys get there."

Acquired in a July trade for starters Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant, O'Neal nonetheless sees enough in place for an immediate push to the NBA Finals.

"I always look at it as an immediate goal, because I know what you've got to do," he says, dictating the tone and direction of the interview, one conducted moments after he completes a cover shoot for the NBA preview edition of Sports Illustrated. "You've got to pace yourself, got to have a lot of luck, got to have a lot of teamwork, got to have guys that want it.

"I like this team because there are guys that shoot. I've got two or three hard-nosed guys and I've got nine, 10, 11 unselfish guys."

Having spent many of his eight years in Los Angeles quarreling with teammate Kobe Bryant and Lakers management, O'Neal says South Florida has provided a refreshing perspective.

"[Power forward Udonis] Haslem came to me the first day and said, `Diesel, I ain't going to be in your way. The only thing I want to do is rebound and when you get doubled, I'm going to cut to the basket and just throw me a lob,'" O'Neal says with a smile as big as his massive legs that are soaking poolside.

"I haven't heard that since a young Horace Grant. Most guys on a team, they want to shoot, they want to score. Haslem said, `You don't ever have to call my play.' I told him in practice, `When I get the ball and your man comes, cut.' He told me the other day, `I didn't know you could pass like that.'"

O'Neal smiles, thanks an attendant for a wet towel offered for his perspiring forehead, then continues with his seemingly pre-crafted message.

"See, the game is simple," he says. "I'm the type that even if I come in the game and say I want to get 30 points, I know how to break it down. Instead of trying to get 30 and get everybody else out of their offense -- 30 divided by four is you get seven points a quarter. That's three baskets and one free throw a quarter. I can usually get my three baskets and keep everybody involved.

His math aside, he says he is particularly intrigued by the possibilities with second-year guard Wade.

"I want to help in making D-Wade become the best player in the world," he says. "I like his game, and when I say game, I say all-around game. Of course he can score. Of course he can penetrate and dunk. But he's given me passes just playing pickup ball that I haven't seen in six, seven years from certain people.

"I could look at his game and say he's an unselfish player, that his game has risen the right way. Most of these young guys now, they watch And-1, think it's about throwing it between their legs. They think it's about hitting the game-winning shot. They think about all that. He doesn't. I like his game."

He is interrupted, challenged by the notion that his new team might not have enough to immediately compete for a title, even with Wade and Jones.

=> "We have enough here," he says, cutting short the question. "I'm not worried about power forward. At the four position, when we won three in a row in L.A., we had A.C. [Green]. We had Samaki [Walker] one season. And Robert Horry one.

=>"It isn't really about that position. Especially in the Eastern Conference, there aren't that many power forwards. Kenyon Martin was the best forward (:rolleyes:), and he's now in the West.

=> "Jermaine O'Neal is up there, but even Indiana is not going to beat us the best out of seven." :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

His us, though, seemingly includes a heavy dose of me. But as he breezes along in a voice somehow both muted and passionate, he hardly makes it sound like a bad thing.

"I would like the offense to run through me, because let's just talk common sense: When you've got a guy like Shaq that's shooting 60, 70 percent [actually 58.4 percent last season], you get the ball to him," he says, now a most unique sight, standing in full uniform in the pool, with the water barely to the bottom of his shorts. "If you've got a guy shooting 60, 70 percent, the other team's got to make a decision to stop him, and when they make a decision to stop him, Shaq's going to kick it out.

"It makes the game easy. If you want to win the hard way, we can win the hard way. It's 82 games. I want to get 40 to 45 games the easy way. And then the other games, we've got to fight it out.

"It's not all about scoring points and getting interviewed and getting covers. A great player is a player that can make other players good around them.

"And you have to have a format to be successful. People get unsuccessful when they try to switch that format. You can go to every big company in the world that starts out as the hot stock. The reason why they fail is they switch up."

Through it all, O'Neal insists he remains true to himself, even amid the fanfare that has created odd moments such as these, semi-submerged in game-day attire.

"I'm not changing who I am," he says. "You can't have people with degrees saying, `Since you're in Miami now, I think you should wear the Miami shirts and Miami hats, learn Spanish.' You can't do that, because that's not me. How you are, that's what your image should be.

"I'm at 335 [pounds] right now," he says, visibly thinner than during his fleshiest days in Los Angeles, but not nearly as ripped as he appeared in August at the Video Music Awards. "When I met Pat, I was 355. I plan on being, when I start playing, in the low 330s, high 320s.

"Pat was straight up. He said, `I don't like you being big. I want you to get down to your old shape.' I said OK, so I didn't lift weights this summer. I just did all cardio, that's all I did."

He grins, offers thanks for questions that never were fully asked, and concludes, "Strength in me is internal."

Regards,

Mourning:cool:

JOneal7

10-06-2004, 07:15 PM

moron...shaq is so stupid. he needs to think before he speaks.. IF kobe/shaq can't beat the pistons...and we almost did with JO, Tins on one leg. THen we are in good shape. I mean if kobe/shaq couldn't...why should Wade/shaq? And wade sucks against good defense. You saw how he did in olympic play. God I hope shaq see's a first round exit. It would be sweet....

Mourning

10-06-2004, 07:19 PM

"what do you expect him to say?"

I fully expected him to say something like this, its still funny nonetheless and though JO plays a lot of C he at the very least still is a PF in name;):angel:.

Regards,

Mourning:cool:

Shade

10-06-2004, 08:37 PM

"Shaq thinks..."

:rotflmao:

Oh, wait, you're serious?

:lol2: :spitout:

Suaveness

10-06-2004, 08:39 PM

He can say whatever he wants. Fact of the matter is that he is the one who's going to be crying when they lose to us. The Pacers will let the court speak for themselves.

Suaveness

10-06-2004, 08:40 PM

"Shaq thinks..."

:rotflmao:

Oh, wait, you're serious?

:lol2: :spitout:

:laugh:

Sollozzo

10-06-2004, 08:54 PM

Never underestimate Shaq. He is a proven 3 time champion that takes over a game. I don't have a good feeling about us playing him in a series, he'll dominate us.

sweabs

10-06-2004, 08:55 PM

Let the man keep talking.

It will only be that much sweeter when we beat them.

Lord Helmet

10-06-2004, 08:57 PM

"I AM KAZZAM"-Shaq. Shaq is being confident with his team.Its his opinion that he can beat us.What was he going to say? "We will be a 2nd Round and out team" IMO all the Heat have is Shaq,Wade and Eddie Jones.They may have been good if they had any sort of a bench but they don't.All we have to do to beat the Heat is let Shaq score and stop everyone else(Stopping Wade is another story) Isn't that what Detroit did?

sweabs

10-06-2004, 09:02 PM

"I AM KAZZAM"-Shaq. Shaq is being confident with his team.Its his opinion that he can beat us.What was he going to say? "We will be a 2nd Round and out team" IMO all the Heat have is Shaq,Wade and Eddie Jones.They may have been good if they had any sort of a bench but they don't.All we have to do to beat the Heat is let Shaq score and stop everyone else(Stopping Wade is another story) Isn't that what Detroit did?

Or, you take it at Shaq every time and get him fouled out. Then what do they do?

"I AM KAZZAM"-Shaq. Shaq is being confident with his team.Its his opinion that he can beat us.What was he going to say? "We will be a 2nd Round and out team" IMO all the Heat have is Shaq,Wade and Eddie Jones.They may have been good if they had any sort of a bench but they don't.All we have to do to beat the Heat is let Shaq score and stop everyone else(Stopping Wade is another story) Isn't that what Detroit did?

Or, you take it at Shaq every time and get him fouled out. Then what do they do?